I have and I must admit, I’m impressed. I had warnings from my brother that it was ok but contained an unnecessary love story. I disagree Stephen, you unromantic bastard, and anyway if it was a bit lovey dovey kissy kiss it’s Cate Blanchet and she is strikingly beautiful (wish she’d got all soppy and gooey with me).

Ridley Scott is taking directorial liberties with the story and has rewritten it for our benefit and to get another couple of movies out of it. Prepare to be at a loss for the first 20 minutes as you try to figure out where all the rob from the rich, give to the poor and merry men cavorting in a forest lark is and why we’re beating the heads off French men instead of the Sherriff of Nottingham.

Instead allow the film to take you were it needs to, safe in the knowledge that Crowe and Scott are two of Hollywood’s finest who are confident enough in each other to make a cracking retelling of the story. The action has the right mix of blood, bodies and brutality without being gratuitous and even a reserved cinema goer such as Reserved Paul Mc Journalist finds himself bouncing about in his seat wanting the nasty Frenchies to get it in the neck.

Russell Crowe is such a dedicated actor he adopts no less than five different accents for the film and three of those are Irish. This must have had an effect on the cast as they all seem to be at it at some stage, Blanchet has undertones of the Dublin accent she did for Veronica Guerin but who can blame her as this is probably the best accent work ever put on film.

It’s a long one, you’ll be in the cinema for two and a half hours but it’s a goody.